It was the night of the electricians' union Christmas party so Alexis was the adult in charge at Betsy's house, attempting to earn her aunt stripes. Her nephews sat on the floor in the family room while Tyler played B-I-N-G-O on his guitar.
"And Bingo was his name, oh!" Tyler gave one last exaggerated stroke of the strings and the pint-sized audience clapped wildly.
"Okay, I think Tyler the Guitar Hero deserves a break," Alexis said.
The boys moaned in protest as Tyler followed Alexis into the kitchen. On his way, he saw Brian head for the guitar and gave him a mock threatening look. No one touched the guitar, no matter how cute. Brian shrank back to his seat on the floor.
"Sorry, but they're not big tippers," Alexis joked as they stood in the kitchen.
"It's not cash I'm interested in, little lady." He gave her a meaningful look and she shifted her gaze away, moving to the cabinet to pull out two glasses. She wanted him to focus on something else, especially while they were babysitting. His attention was both exhilarating and frightening.
"How about I serve you a drink for a change?" she asked. As always, he took her brush off in stride. "I'd like that."
Tyler settled onto a stool while Alexis poured the wine.
"So I've been giving it some thought," he told her, "and it sounds to me like you should quit your job."
"Is that so?"
"You should be doing something you love every single day. Feeding your soul instead of filling your day."
"But I'm a good lawyer." Despite her leave of absence from the firm, Alexis hadn't lost faith in her abilities. It was the one area of her life where she'd never let anybody down.
"So be a different kind of lawyer," Tyler suggested.
"You think I should be a bad lawyer?" she asked playfully.
"I'll bet you couldn't if you tried," he said. "Why not work for a non-profit or be an immigration lawyer? There must be some type of law that would fulfill you."
Owen raced in, unaware of the grown-up conversation taking place. Alexis nearly exhaled with relief, grateful for the interruption.
"The natives are getting breathless!" he gasped.
"You mean restless," Alexis corrected him with a smile.
"Can we have one more song before bedtime, pleeeeease?" He flashed a toothy grin and batted his long eyelashes at them.
Tyler couldn't resist. "Okay then, one more song."
"Hooray!" Owen hustled out of the room ahead of them to tell the others.
"Pushover," Alexis teased and Tyler pinched her bottom in retaliation. "Hey, hands to yourself."